California Poppies | 2017 Superbloom

March 28, 2017

Yesterday, my good friend Courtney text me and asked if I wanted to go have a picnic in the poppies with her. If you haven’t heard, there is a major “Superbloom” happening in California, due to all the rain we’ve had. This means that the wildflowers, including the poppies, are basically exploding across hills and valleys like I’ve never seen before. Apparently people are coming from all over the world to see the Super Bloom of 2017, so we didn’t want to miss out. We decided to head out to Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore, since it’s not too far for us here in Orange County. ( If you’re coming from LA, I’ve heard another great spot to see the poppies is Antelope Canyon, but that’s really far north from Orange County!)

We hit bad traffic since it was almost rush hour so we ended up eating our picnic in the car. By the time we got there, the sun was starting to drop and the light was beautiful, but the poppies had started to close! Word to the wise: poppies close up at night! So if you’re going to go seem them, go soon (they are almost done blooming!) and go earlier in the day if you want to see them open in full force! We hiked up a ways, got pretty dirty, lost my phone at one point, and my gnarly allergies kicked in big time with all that dust and wildflowerage. The funniest (slash scary for a minute) part was when Lo chomped down on her first poppy flower. She LOVED it! She got this crazy look in her eye and started bounding around trying to eat every single poppy!!! I was worried for a minute and kept frantically pulling them out of her mouth. We left soon after that and Lo is fine now, but heads up that poppies are a hallucinogenic AND can be poisonous for dogs if they eat too much!

Ok, so learn from us! Here are some tips for seeing the poppies:

Go in the morning or early in the day to see them fully open!

Go on a weekday vs. a weekend – it was busy on a Monday, and I hear weekend are crazy busy!

Wear comfy shoes that you don’t care if they get dirty – it’s super dusty!

Take allergy medicine if you’re prone to allergies like me.

There are no restrooms and no water – so stop at a gas station before your exit! Unless you’re ok poppying a squat…get it?! 😉

I love these pics of cute Court…check out her new blog here! She goes on some wild and crazy adventures, it’s so fun to follow along!

Driving Directions:

Coming from Orange County, from I-15 you’ll want to take exit 81 for Lake Street. Turn left to cross under the freeway, and then it will be right there! You can just park wherever is available on the corner of Lake St. and Walker Canyon Road, and you’ll see the main trail go up from there.

Hurry hurry before they are all gone! Let me know if you have any questions :).